Dayton's Lessons for Syria: Sometimes, peacemaking may require accommodation with war criminals.

War on the Rocks, December 2015

Richard Holbrooke successfully negotiated an end to the Bosnian War at Dayton in 1995 because he was willing to strike a deal with putative war criminals Alija Izetbegovic, Franjo Tudjman, and Slobodan Milosevic. Similarly today, in order to end the civil war in Syria, we should stop insisting that Assad needs to exit -- instead, we ought to recognize that he and his inner circle will have to be part of any future power sharing agreement.